Shout of Praise

What a week. It was magical. In the least of terms. I was super blessed to be able to go the VMEA's Honor's Choir, and boy am I glad I went. Not only was it so fun to be around some great people and meet some really awesome people, but the MUSIC. Oh my goodness. Even as I'm typing this, I can hear the dynamics and swells in each word. I've even been speaking in just vowels. Por ejemplo, last night I was trying to tell my mom I was going to hang out with Amy, and it came out "I an ouu itt AAy." Not so effective, I tell you. Our director, Dr. Keith Hampton = a genius. He was hilarious and such a good teacher, holy cow. Some things I learned from him:
1. the vOwel comes ON THE BEAT.
2. It's so much easier to create a fabulous sound when everyone is singing softly.
3. Amaaaan is so fun to say. (He's a gospel choir director, and you better believe he will make you "so colored yo mama won't recognize you")
4. Breathing is like hammering. basically.

It was such a fantastic experience. The music was fabulous. Can say that again? IT WAS FABULOUS. Now I don't know exactly how it sounded from the audience, but in my opinion, we rocked every song... with the exception of one ridiculously, insanely, stupidly hard song. it makes me stupid. (Lobet den Herrn by Bach...look it up. Warning: it may cause an immediate headache/ heart attack just by looking at it.) But I must say for a high school choir, we did our very best :) BUT otherwise, it was amazing to be creating such a spectacular sound. My favorite song was "Black Is The Color of My True Love's Hair". ok, and "He is Marvelous" ... and "Shout of Praise". annnnnd all of them. So basically, it was freaking awesome.

I was talking to Marie (my sister-in-law) about it today and she asked me if it was like EFY. At first I was confused. But then I felt really silly and near-sighted for not seeing the connection. Because we were all united in one belief, if you will, and were all excited and motivated in being there, yes it was similar to EFY. We all love music, were all motivated to sing this music and sing it better than we could possibly imagine. I feel like music and the gospel are two of the strongest bonds in the world. After you share something so personal, like your testimony of Jesus Christ, you feel a special connection with the people around you, which is why you always feel a special connection with the friends you make at EFY or youth conference, or the people in your ward. I think the same goes for music. After you've shared something that means so much to you, like your voice or your instrument, there's a special bond. It's like kindergarten all over again: it's the first day and you're terrified to make friends, but then some nice little girl shares her crayons with you and you are instantly best friends. It's not always that easy, but the bond is there.

D&C 25:12 For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.